Combination air duct and girder for hot air ventilating system



Feb. 22, 1966 E. VENUT] 3,236,254

H. COMBINATION AIR DUCT AND GIRDER FOR HOT AIR VENTILATING SYSTEM FlledFeb. 21, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l I Fig. 60 i Henry E Venuti 1.\'I 'EXTORB} Mun am Feb. 22, 1966 v u-n 3,236,254

COMBINATION AIR DUCT AND GIRDER FOR HOT AIR VENTILATING SYSTEM FlledFeb. 21, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Henry 1 Venufl l FE INVENTOR. f ii BYUnited States Patent 3,236,254 COMBINATION AIR DUCT AND GIRDER FOR HOTAIR VENTILATING SYSTEM Henry E. Venuti, 3 Broolrside Ave., M.D. 15,Newburgh, N.Y. Filed Feb. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 260,184 6 Claims. (Cl.137357) This invention comprises a novel and useful combination air ductand girder for hot air ventilating systems and more particularlypertains to structural building elements which combine therein thefunctions of load-bearing girders and an air ventilating duct system.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide in a buildingconstruction a combined assembly of loadbearing girders and circulatingair duct members having both an improved load-supporting function aswell as providing an effective, strong, concealed and convenientlylocated circulating air duct assembly.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a circulating air ductassembly comprising a pair of vertically overlying hollow top and bottomgirder members which will function as the air feed and air return meansof a circulating air duct assembly.

Yet another purpose of the invention is to provide a device inaccordance with the preceding objects wherein there is provided a mainhollow beam having a plurality of laterals projecting therefrom toeffectively distribute the circulating air over substantially the entirearea or fioor plan of a construction as may be desired.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a combined girderand air duct assembly in accordance with the foregoing objectsconsisting of hollow upper and lower members superposed upon each otherand having an improved passage connection therebetween for eifectingseparate air feed and air return ducts.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of the upper and lower girderand duct elements in accordance with a first form of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in verticallongitudinal section through an installation in accordance with thisinvention, parts being broken away and parts shown in dotted linestherein;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged detail view of the left portion of FIGURE 2 andshowing the internal construction of the upper and lower girder and ductelements and their associated relationship in section;

FIGURE 4 is a detail view in horizontal section taken substantially uponthe plane indicated by the section line 4-4 of FIGURE 2 and showing apreferred means for anchoring lateral girder members to the main girderof the device;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view showing the top surface of the uppermostgirder assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a top perspective view of the lower girder element of FIGURE1;

FIGURE 7 is a detail view taken upon an enlarged scale in verticaltransverse section substantially upon the plane indicated by the sectionline '77 of FIGURE 2 and showing in particular the superposedrelationship of the upper and lower girder members and their connectionwith the furnace or air conditioning ducts of the systems;

FIGURE 8 is a further view in vertical transverse section taken upon anenlarged scale substantially upon the plane indicated by the sectionline 8-8 of FIGURE 2 3,23%,254 Patented Feb. 22, was

and showing lateral hollow girder elements of the air duct system;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view similar to FIGURE 6 but showing amodified construction of the lower girder element of the device; and,

FIGURE 10 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantiallyupon the plane indicated by the section line 1010 of FIGURE 9 andshowing the position of the upper girder member applied to the lowergirder member of FIGURE 9.

In the accompanying drawings there is disclosed a system whereby upperand lower hollow load-bearing girders forming a part of the essentialframework and building structure of a building are likewise utilized asthe feed and return ducts of a circulating air duct system for abuilding.

Referring first to the arrangement of FIGURES l8 and in conjunction withFIGURE 2 and 3 it will be seen that the girder and air duct assembly ofthis invention comprises a hollow upper longitudinally extending girder10 which is adapted to overlie and rest upon a lower longitudinal hollowgirder 12. As shown best in FIG- URE 2, the lower girder 12 is supportedfrom suitable building walls as at 14 and 16 and may convenientlyoverlie a furnace 18 or other heating or air conditioning means. Theheating or ventilating source 18 is provided with a feed or dischargeline 20 together with a return line 22.

As will be best apparent from FIGURE 7, the source of circulating air 18may be provided with two or more of the feed or delivery ducts 20 and acorresponding pair of the return ducts or conduits 22 may likewise beprovided.

At an appropriate corresponding position on the underside of the lowergirder 12 there are provided a pair of sleeves 24 which arecomplementary to and are insertable into the return ducts 22 toestablish a passage connection between the interior of the lower girder12 and the return ducts 22. Thus, the entire hollow interior of thelower girder 12 constitutes a main return conduit for the circulatingheating or ventilating air system of the invention.

The hollow upper girder 10 has an inlet baffle 30 therein, see FIGURE 3,which communicates as by a well 32 through the lower girder 12 with thedelivery ducts or risers 20 from the source of circulating air.

Extending medially along the hollow interior of the lower girder 12 is atruss member which serves to securely brace the top and bottom walls 42and 44 respectively of the lower girder as shown in FIGURE 7 and thusimpart increased rigidity to this girder. In addition, the trussconstruction affords free communication of the air to opposite sides ofthe medial web or truss member 40.

At longitudinally spaced intervals along the bottom wall 46 of the topgirder 10 are a plurality of longitudinally extending openings 48through which extend vertical risers or wells 50 which later projectabove the top wall 52 of the top girder 10. These wells establish acommunication with the hollow lower girder with the top surface of thetop girder 10 so that additional vertical elements such as thoseindicated in dotted lines at 54 in FIGURES 2 and 7 may be connectedthereto to thus establish communication of the duct system with upperstories or floors of the building construction.

As shown at 56 in FIGURE 1, the underside of the bottom wall 46 of thetop girder 10 is provided with openings 56 which communicate with theriser members 20 where the latter project upwardly through thecorresponding wells 32 in the lower girder 12 and thus communicate withthe directive baffle 30 in the top girder 10.

At convenient points along its length, the opposite sides of the topgirder 10 are provided with lateral members.

Thus, a series of solid transverse ribs 60 may be detachably secured tothe top girder in the manner shown in FIGURE 4. Thus, the sides of thetop girder 10 may be provided with channel-shaped brackets 62, open attheir tops and into which end plates 64 secured as by fastening screws66 to the ends of the members 60 may be vertically and slidablyreceived. These members may serve as the usual floor joists and the likeof a building construction. In addition, other transverse hollow ribs asat 70 may be welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the main girder 10and at their outer ends are provided with upturned Ls as at 72, furthereffecting an upward distribution of the circulating or heating air fromthe main upper girder 10.

Referring now to FIGURE 8 it will be seen that the lateral duct members70 may be joined to the integrally extending short lateral offset andanchoring means 74 of the top girder 10 as by means of internal sleevesor bushings 76. This provides a convenient manner for fabricating themain girder 10 and detachably but securely connecting the lateral ductmembers and girders 70 thereto. Conveniently, dampers of conventionaldesign as indicated at 78 may be disposed in the lateral girders '70 inorder to controllably proportion the flow of air between the latter andthe main girder 10.

As will be understood, the wells 50 of the top girder 10 are coextensivewith the openings 80 which are disposed in longitudinally s acedrelation upon the top wall of the lower girder 12. In addition, both thewells 50 and the apertures 80 are of sufficient lateral extent tooverlie the web 40 and project upon both sides of the latter. Thus freecommunication is established between the top girder and these wells.

In the embodiment of FIGURES 9 and 10, a modified construction of lowergirder 12 is provided, the modified girder being indicated by thenumeral 90. In this form, the top wall is omitted, the side walls 92 ofthe lower girder being rigidly secured together as by the cross members94. The same truss arrangement 96 is provided, however, disposedmedially of the longitudinal opening in the lower girder andcorresponding wells 98 are provided which are similar to the wells 24 ofFIGURE 1. As shown in FIGURE 10, the arrangement of this form of theinvention is identical to that previously described in that the uppergirder indicated diagrammatically at 10 is superposed upon the lowergirder 90 and establishes communication therewith in the same manner.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A circulating air duct assembly comprising an elongated compositeload bearing unit of sufficient strength and rigidity to support theweight of at least a portion of a building structure thereon, saidcomposite unit including independent upper and lower hollow girdersproviding separated air delivery and return passages respectively andbeing disposed in superposed relation one upon the other, air inletmeans supplying air into said air delivery passage of said upper girder,air discharge means communicating with said air return passage of saidlower girder, each of said girders including a vertically orientatedcentrally located open truss unit extending longitudinally therein, eachtruss unit being of substantially the same height as and fixedly mountedwithin the corresponding girder, the truss unit of the upper girderbeing substantially vertically aligned with and over the truss unit ofthe lower girder so as to function in conjunction therewith as a singleload supporting member.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said upper and lower girders eachinclude top, bottom and side walls defining said delivery and returnpassages, said air inlet means consisting of wells extending verticallythrough said lower girder and opening through the top and bot tom wallsthereof and sealed from said air return passage, said wells extendingthrough said upper girder bottom wall and opening into said air deliverypassage.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said air discharge means includessleeves forming wells passing through and sealed from said air deliverypassage and extending vertically entirely through said upper girder andprojecting thereabove whereby said sleeves may be communicated withdownflow air return ducts above said composite unit.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said air discharge means includessleeves forming Wells passing through and sealed from said air deliverypassage and extending vertically entirely through said upper girder andprojecting thereabove whereby said sleeves may be communicated withdownfiow air return ducts above said composite unit.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said upper girder has a pluralityof hollow distributing load-bearing girders projecting laterallytherefrom and each communicating with said air delivery passage.

6. The combination of claim 5 including laterally extending structuraljoists disposed in longitudinally spaced relation along and secured tosaid upper girder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 409,893 8/ 1889Wray 20-94 664,469 12/ 1900 Copeland 285397 X 2,567,789 9/1951 Sawyer.2,569,910 10/1951 Venuti. 2,815,938 12/1957 Impey et a1. 2,868,103 1/1959 Molitor. 2,911,898 11/1959 Curran. 2,935,307 5/1960 Goemann.

M. CARY NELSON, Primary Examiner.

1. A CIRCULATING AIR DUCT ASSEMBLY COMPRISING AN ELONGATED COMPOSITELOAD BEARING UNIT OF SUFFICIENT STRENGTH AND RIGIDITY TO SUPPORT THEWEIGHT OF AT LEAST A PORTION OF A BUILDING STRUCTURE THEREON, SAIDCOMPOSITE UNIT INCLUDING INDEPENDENT UPPER AND LOWER HOLLOW GIRDERSPROVIDING SEPARATED AIR DELIVERY AND RETURN PASSAGES RESPECTIVELY ANDBEING DISPOSED IN SUPERPOSED RELATION ONE UPON THE OTHER, AIR INLETMEANS SUPPLYING AIR INTO SAID AIR DELIVERY PASSAGE OF SAID UPPE GIRDER,AIR DISCHARGE MEANS COMMUNICATING WITH SAID AIR RETURN PASSAGE OF SAIDLOWER GIRDER, EACH OF SAID GIRDERS INCLUDING A VERTICALLY ORIENTATEDCENTRALLY LOCATED OPEN TRUSS UNIT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREIN, EACHTRUSS UNIT BEING OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME HEIGHT AS AND FIXEDLY MOUNTEDWITHIN THE CORRESPONDING GIRDER, THE TRUSS UNIT OF THE UPPER GIRDERBEING SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY ALIGNED WITH AND OVER THE TRUSS UNIT OFTHE LOWER GIRDER SO AS TO FUNCTION IN CONJUNCTION THEREWITH AS A SINGLELOAD SUPPORTING MEMBER.